Need to open a can; buy a can opener. Easy. Need to transform into a digital organisation; buy a digital platform. Logical, but only partially true.
Want to win a car race; build the best car. Again, only partially true. Winning a car race also requires the best driver and support. In other words, the best leader, people and product. Let’s not forget about process.
In the book ‘The Severn Habits of Successful People’, Stephen R Covey identifies ‘Starting at the End’ as one of the seven key characteristics. In the digital world, this would mean having a leader who starts with the customer or audience.
Too often, an organisation starts their digital transformation journey by buying new hardware or software and by hiring a senior IT Programme Manager or Systems Integrator with the right IT experience to implement the solution while leading a digital team.
Smaller and non-profit organisations try to save money by looking for a leader who is both IT Programme Manager and Chief Marketing Officer. I have yet to meet an IT or pure marketing expert who fits these requirements. I have met and do think experienced digital leaders fit the bill, having the right combination of digital, IT and marketing experience and skills.
This demonstrates why so many organisations continually move their digital departments back and forth between IT and marketing, experimenting without getting the best results. It also explains why in recent years most system integrators are repositioning themselves as agencies and agencies as system integrators. Be very careful here, they both can sound very convincing. I’m not sure either camp has cracked it. Both are important resources, but a third element is needed: the digital leader.
A good digital leader is customer-focused, persuasive and innovative. They need to speak the language of marketing, finance, business, strategy, IT, support, data, customer experience, management, product development, HR, procurement and digital. They need flexibility and know-how to bring people from these various departments together. They need to be able to transform an organisation from siloed to collaborative, all sharing the same digital vision while measuring accountability across the organisation.
Most people in a business don’t know what the digital team actually does. They are confused whether they are IT or marketing people and often go to the wrong department for advice and help. Of course in a siloed company or a business lacking a custom-centric view, this can be disastrous.
Good digital solutions are not always logical in the obvious ways. A good digital leader knows how to draw on a variety of skills and resources to discover seemingly illogical answers to avoid launching products or services that are not customer-centric and cause irreversible damage to customer loyalty and brand perception. They ‘Start at the end’ to plan solutions that are evidence-based, engaging, user-centred and deliver measurable value.
Digital transformation without a proper digital leader risks building a ‘Field of Dreams’ where nobody comes, where there is little engagement, where your internal siloed weaknesses are exposed to the world or of building a shiny new thing that does not work properly. All missing out on the exponential value that digital can deliver.